Tufted Titmouse

 The ninth in a series of occasional rundowns of what’s happening in the world of birds, birding and bird blogging.

If you have a story that you would like to submit for inclusion, please contact John Briggs for consideration.

Ottawa boy’s invisible invention warns birds about deadly windows| Eighth grader Charlie Sobcov wants to stop birds from dying in collisions with windows, but he doesn’t want to ruin anybody’s view. For his latest school science fair project he has invented painted, plastic decals that can be placed — discreetly — right in the middle of a window pane. “This paint is a colour that birds can see but humans can’t,” he said Wednesday on CBC Radio’s All in a Day. “It’s like putting a big stop sign in the middle of the window.”

New species of babbler bird discovered in China |  A new species of the fist-sized babbler bird has been found in a network of underground caves in southwestern China, raising the prospect the country could become a hot spot for other discoveries, a conservation group said Thursday.

Woodpeckers in Rossmoor may soon end up in sharpshooter’s cross hairs| Woody Woodpecker was annoying, but real woodpeckers are incredible birds with complex social systems and an affinity for drilling holes in trees, in which they store food. So why would anyone want to kill them? In the upscale Bay Area retirement community of Rossmoor, it’s because acorn woodpeckers have been mistaking wooden homes, built within the birds’ natural habitat, as trees.

Cape Ann Birding Weekend

Cape Ann Chamber organizes weekend devoted to bird watching | In order to create an organized opportunity for bird lovers of all levels to further their birding knowledge, the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce and Mass Audubon have collaborated in planning the first Cape Ann Winter Birding Weekend from Jan. 30 to Feb. 1. The price of the weekend is $10 per adult and $50 per person at the Birders’ Dinner. Event homepage

Snowy Owls Safely Removed From Logan Airport | This winter, Snowy Owls have been spotted in our area in huge numbers. Their favorite destination–Logan Airport. Although it is a long journey from the high Arctic, the icy tundra of Logan Field looks like home, attracting more Snowy Owls than anywhere else in the Northeast.

Snowy owls swoop southward, delighting birders | Biologists say an increase in snowy owl sightings in the South suggests that the arctic species did so well in its northern breeding grounds last year that competition is driving the young ones to warmer climates.

N.J. Town Shocked As Dead Birds Fall From Sky | Residents in a New Jersey town were stunned when hundreds of birds started dropping out of the sky to their deaths, but after officials explained why, residents became fuming mad.

DNA Confirms Fastest Evolving Birds | Birds from the family Zosteropidae—also called “white eyes”—could be poster children for rapid evolution. They form new species faster than any other known bird, according to new research.

Happy birding!

©2012 Birding in Maine. All Rights Reserved.

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The eighth in a series of occassional rundowns of what’s happening in the world of birds, birding and bird blogging. This is the final installment for 2008.

Hawk flying over marsh

The CatBib Will Stop Your Cat From Catching Birds! | The CatBib was invented by a bird-feeding, cat-loving gardener in Springfield, Oregon, USA. This unique, patented product protects wild birds whenever your cat is outdoors. Here is a link to the video showing how the bib works.

An Eagle Christmas Story | This could have been a story of terrible cruelty with a sad ending. Fortunately, there are some very good people in this world and one young eagle will have a good Christmas.  From The City Birder

Turn your Christmas tree into a bird sanctuary | Your glorious Christmas tree dazzled through the holiday season with sparkling and treasured ornaments. Give that lovely Christmas tree another life by creating a winter bird sanctuary. Bird families can enjoy your tree as a backyard habitat. Decorate your tree as a feeding station during the winter when food is scarce for birds. The tree’s branches also furnish protection from wind and shelter from predators. From St. Louis Today

Female Red-breasted Merganser

The Spotted Owl’s New Nemesis | An epic battle between environmentalists and loggers left much of the spotted owl’s habitat protected. Now the celebrity species faces a new threat—a tougher owl. From Smithsonian.com

Avian airlines: Alaska to New Zealand nonstop | Tracked bar-tailed godwits set new nonstop flight record for birds: In an avian flight of epic proportions, a female bar-tailed godwit lifted off from her Alaskan breeding ground and flew south 11,680 kilometers, nonstop, until she reached her winter home in New Zealand. From sciencenews.org

Hawaii’s honeyeater birds tricked taxonomists | DNA from old museum specimens reveals evolutionary look-alikes: Five species of Hawaiian birds have made fools of taxonomists for more than 200 years, thanks to a fine bit of evolutionary illusion-making. From Science News

Snowy owl — a marine species? | Wildlife satellite studies could lead to a radical re-thinking about how the snowy owl fits into the Northern ecosystem. “Six of the adult females that we followed in a satellite study spent most of last winter far out on the Arctic sea ice.” From Biology New Net

What trouble can I get into?

 Happy birding!

©2012 Birding in Maine. All Rights Reserved.

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The seventh in a series of occassional rundowns of what’s happening in the world of birds, birding and bird blogging.

Bird News

 A beak is a mysterious and incredible tool | A bird’s beak may be a rather curious object, but it remains a vitally important appendage.

Eagles “Cannibalizing” Other Birds as Otters Disappear | Some bald eagles in Alaska have switched to eating mainly other bird species, a new study says.

Hundreds of Birds Killed by School’s Artificial Lights | Hundreds of yellow warblers and other migratory birds died this week when they flew into a lighted school building that sits on a hill in Hambleton, W. Va.

Sea birds’ DNA may hold keys to aging and cancer, researcher says | Leach’s storm-petrels should die young but live a long life and break the conventional rules. First of all, they’re small, and there tends to be a relationship between body size and life span.

Beaches once thick with birds quiet thanks to Ike | One of North America’s renowned bird migration and bird watching areas is strangely silent. Blame Hurricane Ike.

The long march of the penguins | Exhausted birds are washing up on Brazil’s tropical beaches, thrown off course by changing currents.

Belfast Birds Found Covered In Grease | Something in the city of Belfast, Maine is making birds sick, and police are working with biologists to figure what it is.

Birding Blogs

Offshore Wind Power Comes to New Jersey | New Jersey has approved its first offshore wind farm, following the lead of similar projects in Delaware and Rhode Island. A DC Birding Blog

Segway Birding | In my almost four decades of seeking birds, I’ve been birding in many different ways, using many different modes of transport. Then, last week, I added a new mode of birding transport to my “life-experience list”: The Segway. Bill of the Birds

And for those who like jigsawpuzzles, try out this Bald Eagle puzzle.

Thanks to Audobon Birdscapes for the link to the puzzle site.

Happy birding!

©2012 Birding in Maine. All Rights Reserved.

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The sixth in a series of occassional rundowns of what’s happening in the world of birds, birding and bird blogging.

Birding News

Alaska bird population has unique strategies | The strategies birds employ to survive Alaska’s upcoming season of darkness and cold, talking about the flighty birds that split, and the hardy few that stay.

Brain Birds: Amazing Crows and Ravens | No matter where you live, they’re your neighbors. You might want to watch them — carefully.

Building faux habitat to lure the cactus wren | Scientists have planted 15 green contraptions throughout Orange County’s Irvine Ranch Conservancy to entice a declining population of the birds.

PHOTO IN THE NEWS: New Bird Species Found in Gabon | A fiery throated bird spotted in the jungles of Gabon several years ago is a new African forest robin species, DNA studies prove.

Researchers study shrimp to learn more about shorebirds | Researchers from Mount Allison University have been making trips out to the Bay of Fundy mudflats to gather mud shrimp. It’s part of a project to study the eating habits of shorebirds and to find out if those habits are different between day and night.

Offshore oil rigs provide welcome stopovers for migrating birds | The Gulf of Mexico is important to migratory birds, too. Somewhere around a billion birds travel to their wintering grounds in Mexico, Central and South America every fall, and return to North America in spring.

Birding Blogs

About BirdPost | John Beetham of A DC Birding Blog gives his take on a new web service called BirdPost.

The BirdwatchRadio Podcast #9 | On this program, they observe the thirtieth anniversary of BirdWatcher’s Digest with editor Bill Thompson III.

A Quest | Jeff Wells, a senior scientist for the Boreal Songbird Initiative, has a post about a new show opening Wednesday evening, September 17, from 5:30 to 8:00 PM at the Jonathan Frost Gallery in Rockland, Maine. The show features artist Susan Beebe.

©2012 Birding in Maine. All Rights Reserved.

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The fifth in a series of occassional rundowns of what’s happening in the world of birds, birding and bird blogging.

An eye for the Maine chance | Maine Audubon has completed the initial stage of its Important Bird Areas (IBA) program, identifying 22 areas in Maine as critical to state and global bird populations.

Birds Migrate Earlier, But Some May Be Left Behind As The Climate Warms Rapidly | Many birds are arriving earlier each spring as temperatures warm along the East Coast of the United States. However, the farther those birds journey, the less likely they are to keep pace with the rapidly changing climate.

Birds Communicate Reproductive Success In Song | Some migratory songbirds figure out the best place to live by eavesdropping on the singing of others that successfully have had baby birds — a communication and behavioral trait so strong that researchers playing recorded songs induced them to nest in places they otherwise would have avoided.

Birds and bats need protection from wind turbines | If we’re going to have wind turbines to produce electricity — and, sadly, it looks like we may — then why not equip them with safety devices to warn off birds and bats?

How Birds Can Capture a Kid’s Imagination | If you’re trying to pry your kid away from an iPod, a Hannah Montana video or Webkinz, why not go outside and find birds? That’s what veteran bird-watcher Bill Thompson III, who wrote The Young Birder’s Guide to Birds of Eastern North America, suggests.

Bill of the Birds | Bill Thompson, III blogs about the time he is spending on Hog Island Audubon Camp in here in Maine.

I will leave you with a few photos taken last weekend at Goose Rocks Beach. Included are photos of a Piping plover chick, a male Dunlin and photos of lupine in bloom. Enjoy!

For those of you with a broadband connection, under the dropdown “Video” tab in the menu at the top of the page, there is a “Featured Video” tab. These videos are at an even higher resolution. The file size averages 6 to 7 mb. The current video is a Tufted Titmouse bathing in a bird bath.

Happy birding!

©2012 Birding in Maine. All Rights Reserved.

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